Defy Your Heart Prov. 28:26 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO of Defy Your Heart

Prov 28:26 says, “he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool”.  If you are following your heart in a matter, you’d better be very careful because your heart is prone to lead you astray.  In times when your heart leads you astray it is very important to defy your heart and trust God.  Prov 3:5, “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding”.

According to Jer 17:9-10, your heart is deceitful.  In the areas of love, child-rearing, fear, envy, Bible doctrine, and in God’s will, the heart can be particularly deceitful.  And so it is important to defy your heart to keep from being tripped up.  You may need to defy your heart:

In love – 2 Sam 13:15.  “The hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her”.  This is what happened to Amnon; his heart deceived him into thinking that he was in love with Tamar.  Solomon loved many wives and they turned his heart away from the Lord.  In love your heart can easily deceive you; you must defy your heart.  Here is the remedy in Deut 6:5.  Love the Lord with all thine heart.  If you fill your heart with love for him then you will resist loving the wrong person.

In child-rearing – 1 Sam 3:13.  “His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not”.  This is what Eli did.  He obviously loved his sons because he honored them above the Lord.  Your love for your children can lead you to enable them to keep doing wrong.  Often with your children, your heart will deceive you.  In that case, you must defy your heart and do the hard thing contrary to your love in order to help them.

In fear – Deut 7:17.  “Thou shalt say in thine heart, these nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them”?  This is what happened to Israel when they tried to defeat all of the nations in Canaan.  They feared the nations and became discouraged about their ability to win against them.  Their fear caused them to fret against the Lord and forget that he was their salvation.  Your heart will deceive you with fear.  You must defy your heart when you are afraid.  And encourage yourself in the Lord to face the tough things in life.

In envy – Prov 23:17.  “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long”.  Your heart will deceive you into believing that your friends who are sinners have a better life than you do as a Christian.  You must defy your heart.  The life of a sinner is not better than the life of a Christian who is living in the will of God.

In Bible doctrine – Deut 18:21.  “How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken”?  This is the question Israel raises concerning false prophets.  Your heart will deceive you into believing false doctrine.  You must defy your heart when it does this.  A verse that will help you understand why you choose to believe a doctrinal lie is Heb 4:12.  The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and will reveal to you why you are so willing to be deceived.  Understanding the motive for the desired deception often helps you change your belief to the truth.

In God’s will – 2 Sam 7:3.  When David wanted to build the temple, Nathan said to him, “do all that is in thine heart”.  When it comes to God’s will, your heart will deceive you into believing that what you want to do is what God wants you to do.  And you may actually find some preacher to go along with you.  You must defy your heart.  Your heart won’t always desire the wrong thing as you can see from 2 Chr 1:11.  “In thine heart… but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself”.

At times your heart will get it right.  But even in these times it is important to get a confirming witness from the Lord.  Here is one way to keep from superimposing your will onto God’s will.  In Prov 21:2 when you think you are going the right way, always remember that “the Lord pondereth the heart”.  He can show you whether you are following your will or his by showing you what’s in your heart.

Conclusion: Most of the time people get fouled up when their hearts tell them to do one thing and the Bible tells them to do another.  They often clearly reject the words of God in favor of following their hearts.  Hopefully, this lesson has revealed how important it is to defy your heart so that you can follow the Lord.  In the end you are going to be far better off.